


let's see where this goes

by honestlyjustamess



Category: Bandom, Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Fluff, Homophobia, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Islamophobia, M/M, Refugees, idk - Freeform, ill add more as this goes on, sorry - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-31
Updated: 2016-09-01
Packaged: 2018-07-11 06:42:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7034098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/honestlyjustamess/pseuds/honestlyjustamess
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tyler is a refugee being hosted by Josh's church. Josh is an anxiety riddled mess.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first fic so sorry if this is trash. also, i have no idea where this is going so bear with me

“Josh? Are you ready? What are you doing, we have to go!”

“I don’t wanna! Ugh! it's gonna be boring and awkward! Why don’t Ashley and Abby and Jordan have to go?”

Josh’s mom stormed into his room and glared at her son who was lazily sitting at his drum kit.

“Because, Josh, the immigrant family have a boy the same age as you. And now, we’re going to be late so would you kindly hurry up?” Josh’s mom said quickly and rushed out of his bedroom.

Josh jumped out from behind the drumkit and rushed down stairs, not wanting to have to tangle with his mom any more than he had to. He jumped into his mom’s car and sped off. They were heading to the airport to greet the immigrant family that they were supporting. The family had just arrived from Turkey and had four kids, one the same age as Josh. That was about all they knew about the family. 

Josh had been arguing with his mom for the past couple of days because he did not want to meet the family. It was nothing against the family, he just didn’t like meeting new people. More specifically, he didn’t like talking to new people. Once you got to know him, he was super chatty and social but before that… not so much. Anxiety was a bitch. 

But on the upside, his anxiety had caused him to start drumming. He had decided that the drums would help him talk to more people. That hadn’t really happened, he still kind of hid behind his drums but at least now he was a damn good drummer. It was all he did. He drummed from morning to night, until his knuckles bled. He had even been asked to be in a band with some kids from school but he had declined. He hadn’t meant to be rude but he didn’t know the guys from the band very well and viewed it as just another way to embarrass himself further.

He turned up the radio and started drumming his fingers along to the beat of the song. It was a simple pop song but he had been working on some ways to improve the minimalist beat behind it. But his mom had been hearing the same song for days and was pretty sick of it so she turned it down. 

He turned it up.

She turned it down.

He reached to turn it up again but she glared at him and said in a steely voice, “Josh William Dun, if you turn up that radio one more time, I will break your drums when we get home.”

Josh knew she was kidding but he also knew that she had been under a lot of stress from the impending arrival of the family so he left the car radio alone for the rest of the car ride. There had been a bunch of mix ups with the family’s arrival. First, the family had almost been denied entry to the country and as a result, their plane tickets were cancelled, which made the situation worse when the family had been granted access. Josh’s mom had taken over as travel agent and had managed to pick up some last minute tickets but it was an expensive and stressful period. 

Josh put in his earphones and hummed along to a song for the rest of the car ride, spacing out as he looked out the window.

They pulled into the airport parking lot eventually and Josh’s mom made him get out and wait for the refugees while she found parking, on the off chance that they got through customs early. He complained but went on his way not long after.

They hadn’t arrived yet luckily and so he waited with his mom for a while along with a small group of people from the church that was supporting the refugees, glancing up at the escalator where new arrivals came down every time a plane was announced, apprehensive but excited at the same time.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, the family's plane was called and he and his mom stood and walked over to the base of the escalator.

“Take out your earbud!” Josh’s mom hissed at her son. “It’s rude!”

“Mom!” Josh whined but he took it out of his ear anyway. 

Just then, the family appeared at the top of the escalator. Some of the people from the church held up a banner with the words “WELCOME TO OUR COUNTRY” written in big letters across it while others smiled and waved. The family looked a bit overwhelmed as they got to the base of the escalator and were wrapped in hugs from some of the church members. Josh stayed at the back of the group, preferring to stay away from all the action but he studied the immigrants anyway.

First, there was the dad. He was looking a bit nervous but looked happy nonetheless. He was wearing the government provided jacket that all the new immigrants got. According to Josh’s mom, the whole family had gotten jackets and boots as well as some other gear. It wasn’t that cold outside but compared to Turkey, it must feel like the North Pole Josh guessed.

The mom had a slightly stunned look on her face but had a small smile poking through. She was holding most of the luggage that the family had brought but even still, it was nothing. Only a small suitcase. Josh hadn’t realised just how bad it had been for this family.

Then there were the kids. There was a small bewildered boy who looked about seven or eight, a young but pretty girl who looked about maybe 11 or 12. There was a boy who looked maybe two years younger than Josh. He definitely looked the most comfortable out of the family. 

And then Josh saw him. Standing a bit away from the rest of his family. It must be the the boy his age. He was probably a bit taller than Josh but that wasn’t what made him do more or less, a double take. Because this boy, this boy that Josh had never met and had been planning on avoiding was beautiful. Really fucking gorgeous, actually. He had almost feminine features but goddamn, he looked so hot. Josh was a little turned on, if Josh was being honest. He had only seen him for a couple moments but josh knew, he knew that he was fucked. Because Josh was really falling hard.


	2. Tyler couldn't look away

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ERS started and so I went into my room and cried because they aren't coming to where i live. Ugh. Sorry for this trash but thank you for reading.

Tyler’s P.O.V

Gosh, he was tired. He’d gotten so little sleep. The flight had lasted so long and it felt like there was always a baby crying somewhere in the plane. He’d watched Dumb and Dumber. He’d never seen the movie before but with his fragmented english and the subtitles on, he’d managed to understand most of it. And the stuff he did understand, he’d loved. He’d actually managed to watch it twice.

He was a bit nervous to meet all the people helping his family. Obviously he was so grateful but it was hard. He felt like he owed them so much and didn’t know how to express himself. If he’d had his piano with him, he might have felt a bit better but it had been in his grandmother’s house back home and he wouldn’t have been able to bring it along even if his grandmother’s house hadn’t been crushed. 

Gosh, he missed his grandmother. She hadn’t made it and he felt sick just thinking about it. And with the voice inside his head telling him he could have saved her, he felt like he was losing it. 

Don’t worry, Tyler wasn’t crazy. He just had a voice in his head, telling him weird stuff. But he had swore to himself that he would never tell his parents, lest he put more of a burden on them.

Tyler tuned out the voice in his head for a bit. It was hard but he couldn’t focus on it anymore. It was singing in a sing-song voice something about him and his friends having problems. He focused on his dad, who was calling him over.

“Okay, Tyler. I know this is hard but we have to put on a strong face for everyone else. We are after all, the men of the family.” 

Tyler hated that phrase, “Men of the family”. His dad was all about being macho and Tyler, well he was not. It was hard to pretend that he was okay with everything, the war in Syria starting, Grandma’s house getting destroyed, Grandma dying, living in that awful refugee camp in Turkey for so long. And he knew that once he got to the town they were going to Columbus, he would just get bullied. He had a relatively small accent after practicing so much with one of the doctors from the U.S in the camp. He and his family weren’t too religious, his mom and sister didn’t even wear a hijab. Tyler and his family didn’t even look that Arab, they had been described more as Lebanese or something similar. But he knew kids and he knew, no matter what separated him from the rest of the kids at his next school, it would make him stand out like a sore thumb.

But then again, basically everything was better than Syria. Just thinking about everything there scared him. But he did miss his friends that they’d left behind. It was weird, they’d been so close for so long and now he didn’t know if he’d ever see them again. He felt lonely. He had Zack but he didn’t really feel like he could talk to him and Jay and Maddy were too young and naive. He would never tell his parents about anything he was feeling, he loved them too much for that. So he kept his thoughts and his demons to himself.

But it wasn’t time to stew over that right now. Right now, he had to put on a brave face and thank the people who had brought them to this country. So he and his family got on the escalator and started going down. They were quickly noticed by the church group that was supporting them. They were smiling and acting so happy but the whole time, the voice in his head was repeating a mantra of “They pity you, they pity you, they pity you and they’ll never accept you.” 

The voice in his head always got more torturous when he was meeting new people, finding ways to make Tyler doubt himself. And it worked. Only a couple of seconds ago, he had felt apprehensive but okay overall but now… he felt like shrinking into a ball and curling up in a corner. He moved to the back of his family and tried to make himself look as small as possible. But he couldn’t help looking at the crowd of people greeting his family. 

It was mostly made up of older people, all very “suburban”. There were a few kids that Tyler couldn’t help but feel jealous of. They had all probably grown up in a good home and were probably happy with not a care in their 9-year-old lives.

But there was one boy, older, maybe 17 or 18, around his age. He was at the back of the pack of greeters, looking mildly uncomfortable. He had bright pink hair and the start of gages. Under his t-shirt sleeve, he could see the glimpses of an unfinished but beautiful tattoo. The boy looked over at Tyler and Tyler stared right back at him though he was pretty sure the pinkhaired boy was totally spaced out. But Tyler noticed him smile just a little bit, the corners of his eyes crinkling just a little bit. The boy was beautiful and Tyler couldn’t look away.


	3. Very punk rock

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am procrastinating my geo summative, please kill me. also, i didn't revise this so sorry for the mistakes.

Josh’s P.O.V

Josh stayed in the back of the group of greeters for a while longer, trying not to look at the boy. He had almost succeeded when his mom walked up to him and took his earphone out of his ear. 

“For God’s sake, Josh! You’d think that piece of plastic had been surgically implanted into your head!”  
“Haha.” Josh laughed, completely void of humor.

“I’m serious, Josh. Please just go say hi to the refugees. The one who’s your age is named Tyler. At least say hi to him.”

“I can’t, Mom! You know how i get around new people!”

“I know, Josh. But those people need all the support they can get and i would really appreciate it if you could just say hi. Tyler actually speaks English really well so it won’t be so bad!”

Josh’s mom spun him around and steered him toward the center of the group, Josh protesting all the way. He stopped, though once he was within hearing distance of the new arrivals.

He walked up to the new family and waited until the boy turned around. He told himself to just calm down for three seconds and then smiled to the boy.

“Hi!” He said with more enthusiasm than he felt. “My name’s J-josh!”

God, he couldn’t even say his own name without stuttering! He could feel a blush rising up on his cheeks. He cursed himself inwardly and turned his attention back to the new boy.

“My name is Tyler and I thank you for your tremendous help.” The brunette said stiffly, as though he was completely uncomfortable and had rehearsed the same lines over and over. Josh felt his heart drop. He had scared away this pretty boy with only a couple words. 

In a way, he was glad. It probably meant that he wouldn’t have to talk the boy again. But on the other hand, he did like this boy, even if they had only said a few words to each other.

Josh turned away after a couple awkward seconds and went back to his mom.

“I told you it would go badly. I couldn’t even say my own name without screwing up!”

“I know it’s hard. But I promise it will get better once Doctor Rosent gives you the new meds.”

“Can we just go please?” Josh begged.

“Ya just let me say goodbye to a couple people and we’ll be outta here.”

Josh groaned, knowing that “just saying goodbye” would take forever. He put his earphones back in and sighed in relief as the sound of drums kicked in, playing out the soundtrack to his life.  
They got into their car after a while and started on their way, Josh drumming on his thigh with his fingers, tapping a tattoo of sound onto the fabric of his black jeans. Josh’s mom looked over and sighed, recognizing the movement as a sign of his anxiety. He wished that it wouldn’t worry his mom but it did, no matter how many times he said he was fine. They got home and Josh ran up to his room, itching to e back behind his drum kit where he felt protected.

It was Saturday night and he wasn’t looking forward to tomorrow. Sundays meant church and church meant listening to his pastor droning on and on. He was with most of the beliefs of his church but he couldn’t help hating the whole “being gay was a sin” thing. If he had to listen to his dad say the word “faggot” or reference “the gays” like they were a different species, we was going to scream. And he felt bad. His pastor was the father of his friend, Brendon, and he didn’t want to hate someone who was so protective of him. But Josh couldn’t help being gay, it wasn’t a choice. 

He had just always been aware that while most of his friends, even when he was younger, had always been talking about how pretty the girls in their grade were, he was thinking about how pretty his friends were. He had tried to shut it down but it hadn’t worked. Especially after he had drunk-hooked up with a guy from a nearby school. It had been at a party and he couldn’t really remember it but he did remember waking up the next morning and realizing that he didn’t regret it. Ya, it wasn’t the most romantic first time story but he felt like he had been liberated after that night.

So Josh played drums until he felt like he was going to pass out (which would have been very punk rock) and then fell asleep, the sound of Underoath accompanying him to sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> K so i realize that this is in the third person point of view but that is because i am a hot mess. On the plus side, i finished school so there's that! also, sorry this took 1000 years to update.

While Tyler hadn't been lying, the pink-haired boy was beautiful, he couldn't help but feel resentful of how easy this boy had it. He'd probably grown up with everything laid out for him from the get go. Even before the war, Tyler had always had to work to get anywhere and once the war started, it had been even harder. And then his Grandma died and the stupid voice in his head had showed up, like a tormenting thundercloud hanging over his head all the time.

So when the beautiful, pink-haired, spoiled boy came over. Tyler was cautious. He couldn't say anything rude, after all, this boy was part of the reason he was at least safe. But he also didn't want to seem too needy, even if he was dependant on him.

The boy came over and introduced himself, stuttering a bit. Josh. That was his name. It didn't quite suit him. He seemed like he should have a punk name to go along with his punk appearance but his introduction and smile had seemed sincere so he couldn't be all bad. Still, Tyler wasn't going to trust him.

The boy, Josh, stood there awkwardly for a moment before turning around and walking up a conservative looking woman. He exchanged a few words with her, sighed and put in an earbud. 

Tyler thanked more people, shook seemingly endless hands and tried not fall asleep before his mom came over and asked him if he was okay. He must have gotten his head stuck in the clouds. He replied that he was fine and his mom assured him that they would be leaving soon. He shook a final pair of hands, the face of the man blurring together with all the other greeters, and then they left. 

They drove for 15 minutes or so in a very fancy feeling car. Then again, any car would feel fancy to him. They arrived to an old but big gray house. The driver, Ron, told them that they would be staying there for a while until they chose their own apartment. He said that the house was his deceased mother's and that they could be stay there until they felt comfortable. 

Ron helped them bring in their few bags, despite the protests from Tyler's father. It wasn't that he minded Ron bringing in the bags, it was just that he already felt that he owed so much to these people. Ron helped them settle in, showed them where everything was and then left. Tyler went upstairs to the room he would be sharing with Zach. He flopped onto his mattress, not bothering to get undressed and fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is dedicated to twentyshunpilots because she is my best friend and i love her a lot and also she is the only reason i am writing this at all so...


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Would you look at that? Another chapter! On a completely unrelated topic, it was my birthday today and I gotta whole bunch of twenty one pilots merch and stuff and I am very happy at the moment! Thanks for reading!

BEEP BEEP BEEP

Josh was jolted out of a relaxing dream by the sound of his phones alarm. He rolled over sleepily, throwing his finger towards his phone to stop the horrible noise but succeeded only in knocking his phone off his bed side table. 

"Oh hell!" Josh muttered and stuck his hand behind his bed, grabbing his phone and getting his hand covered in dust bunnies at the same time. 

This same routine was a weekly occurrence for Josh. Every Sunday it was the same. Wake up to the hellish noise of his phone, stumble to the kitchen where he would mutter a sleepy hello to his family, pour himself a bowl of cereal, get dressed in his church clothes and squish into the family van. Every week they would arrive just in time for the beginning of church and they would sit through the proceedings quietly and when it was all done, they would leave. 

Sometimes Josh would hang out with Brendon at the Taco Bell close to the church and then skateboard home. He had been friends with Brendon and he was the only thing that made church bearable, making funny faces at him from the back of the church. Brendon had sat at the back of the church for as long as Josh could remember.

The service passed slowly and Josh could feel himself going through the motions of the service half heartedly, standing up at the appropriate times, mumbling the words to the hymns that he had sings since he was tiny and watching the priest, Brendon's dad, drone on and on.

The minute the choir finished singing the last song, Josh turned to leave. He speed-walked up the aisle to meet Brendon. They were going to go get Josh's skateboard from his family's car and they were going to hang out. But Josh was surprised to see that Brendon was talking to a group of kids. And for heaven's sake, of course it included Tyler. The tanned boy was talking quietly with Brendon, along with another boy who Josh recognized from the group of refugees. 

It wasn't one of Tyler's siblings but they had all arrived on the same plane. His name started with an R, Ried or Ryan or something similar. 

Josh walked over somewhat nervously to the group of boys, unsure of himself in Tyler's presence. He was pretty fracking cute, after all and his icy introduction had made Josh uneasy.

"Hi." Josh muttered to Tyler and Brendon and the other boy.

"Hey dude!" Brendon cried exuberantly, earning himself a glare from his father. 

"That was enthusiastic." Josh said dryly.

"Oh shit sorry! I totally forgot to introduce you guys! You've already met Tyler but this is Ryan! He just arrived as well! He's staying with my family for a bit!" 

So Josh had been right, his name was Ryan.

"Nice to m-meet you, R-Ryan!" Josh said and then blushed a deep red, embarrassed to once again have made himself look like a fool in front of someone new.

Brendon seemed happy around the new guy but he was talking very quickly and Josh could tell that his ADD was kicking in a bit.

"They're gonna come to Taco Bell with us, cool?" Brendon asked.

Josh would have much rather been with only Brendon but he knew he couldn't say that so he nodded and they started walking out of the church.

Tyler and Ryan walked a bit ahead and Brendon leaned over and whispered to Josh, "sorry. I know you don't like new people but I really like Ryan. And he seemed all alone. Except for Tyler that is. But Tyler seems kinda scary, don't you think? He seems all serious. But whatever, we're going to Taco Bell and it's gonna be so much fun!" Brendon practically yelled the last word and skipped up to Tyler and Ryan.

They quickly got his skateboard out of the Dun car and walked to the Taco Bell, Josh skating along beside them. Josh was quickly warming up to the new boy, Ryan but Tyler still seemed unapproachable, barely saying a word the whole time they walked.

They walked into the Taco Bell and Brendon told Tyler and Ryan to go grab a table and that he and Josh would order for them, considering they had never had Taco Bell. The boys walked over to a table, mumbling quietly in Arabic to each other.

Josh and Brendon got in line together and decided on getting tacos. Start out slow for the new arrivals and then introduce them to the finer things of Taco Bel once they were ready. The boys walked over to the table Tyler and Ryan had seated them selves at.

Josh put a taco in front of each of them. Tyler and Ryan grabbed theirs, while Josh and Brendon waited, excited to see the look of joy on the boys' faces.

Tyler bit into his and whispered, "Holy frick! This is good." while Ryan simply murmured his approval. 

Josh and Brendon laughed and ate their tacos quickly, getting up to get another round for all of them once they were all done.

The boys walked out of the Taco Bell two tacos each later and started their trek home, Josh splitting up from the rest of the boys after 15 minutes since Ryan was living with Brendon and Tyler lived pretty close to Brendon.

Josh got home quickly once he was free to skate as fast as he wanted and started working on a history report that he had procrastinated for a very long time. After a mind numbing 2 hours working on the report about some guy called Bernard Montgomery, a field marshal in the Second World War, he binge watched some X-Files, had a vaguely homophobic-filled dinner with his parents, took a long shower and went to bed, his earbuds lolling him to sleep with the sounds of Death Cab fo Cutie's Transatlanticism.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, I did not revise this so apologies now for any and all mistakes found in this trash. Also happy America day for all Americans who happen to read this.

Tyler's P.O.V

"Tyler? Tyler! C'mon! Get up!"

Tyler woke to the sound of his mom yelling from the doorway of his shared room with Zach, though it looked like his brother had already gotten up. Tyler could hear the shower in a distant bathroom running and that alone convinced him to get up. 

"Oh no you don't", His mother said, grabbing his arm as he tried to pass her to get to the shower. "I tried to wake you up but you wouldn't budge so you've lost the chance to shower. We have to go to the church that we're being supported by. They have a service in half an hour. You can't shower or we'll be late."

Tyler felt robbed that he couldn't shower. It felt like years since he had had a proper shower, though in reality it hadn't been that long. 

Tyler sighed and slipped past his mom, ready to at least have something to eat. He stumbled down the stairs and walked into the breakfast nook of Ron's house. His dad had already poured him a bowl of cereal that had been in the house when they arrived, another example of the generosity of the people who were helping them.

He ate the cereal quickly and rushed upstairs quickly to get dressed, feeling like his outfit was not nearly enough formal for church, though he had never been before.

A couple minutes later, Ron showed up in the fancy car again and drove them to a church. It had a large gray exterior with a silver steeple looming high above and stained glass windows along the side. 

He felt very out of place, almost filthy compared to everyone in the church. The voice in his head was muttering about him being smelly or ugly or underdressed or something, anything it could find to pry on his insecurities. He blocked it out as best he could and walked in with Ron and his family, just a couple minutes late. They say down at the back of the church. 

In the next aisle over sat a boy who looked quite similar to the priest at the front of the church and beside him sat Ryan, a boy who Tyler knew very briefly from a small chat while on the plane to Columbus. They were talking quietly, stifling their laughter a couple times. The boy beside Ryan started making stupid faces towards the front of the church halfway through the service and Tyler couldn't figure out who they were directed to until the congregation stood up and Tyler saw a shock of pink hair in the crowd. 

"Of course." Tyler thought to himself. It was that stupid punk kid, Josh. He resented the guy but all the same, he spent most of the service looking at him after that. Josh looked a little robotic the whole time, like he wasn't really paying attention. Speaking of which, Tyler should have been looking towards the priest instead of the pretty boy who was currently conflicting his emotions. Tyler scolded himself and turned his attention toward the front.

The service ended with on final hymn and Ryan and the other boy turned toward Tyler immediately.

"Hey." Ryan said in Arabic and then blushed and turned toward the other boy. 

"Sorry. Arabic is still second nature. This is Tyler by the way. He's from Syria as well." 

"Hi! Nice to meet you. I'm Brendon." Brendon said excitedly and hugged Tyler tightly. Tyler stiffened at the unexpected touch but didn't move away.

"Hi." Tyler said with very little emotion.

Brendon looked a little put out by Tyler's icy introduction but regained his smiley composure quickly. 

"Wanna come get some food with us?" Brendon said.

"Um... Sure. I don't have any money though so let me just ask my parents." He said awkwardly.

"Dude! It's no problem, I'll pay. I don't mind, really!" He said, noticing Tyler's uneasy look after he said he'd pay.

He was grateful, he really was but he didn't want to owe to much to these people, generous as they were.

Brendon noticed someone standing behind Tyler and Ryan just then and Josh moved into their little circle very quickly.

"Hi." He said awkwardly, like he was trying to draw as little attention to himself as possible.

Brendon greeted him loudly, to which Josh answered with some sarcasm. Tyler was still getting used to sarcasm, having to decipher the complicated things that signified the true meaning of some parts of the English language.

Introductions between Ryan and Josh were made and then they walked out of the church, Tyler having talked quickly to his parents, assuring them that he would be fine and it was easy to convince them.

Tyler and Ryan walked in front of Brendon and Tyler, talking quietly in Arabic. It was all small talk but it felt nice to talk to someone who wasn't his family in his native tongue.

Brendon joined them soon after and Josh grabbed his skateboard out of his family car and skated beside them. Tyler faded a bit out of the conversation but no one seemed to notice.

They walked into a restaurant soon after, though it wasn't like the restaurants he had seen so far. It was grungier and it wasn't nicely decorated, plastic dominating throughout the restaurant. Plastic tables, plastic chairs, a sea of plastic.

Brendon said that he and Josh would order and so Tyler and Ryan sat down at one of the plastic tables and waited for the other boys to join them, conversing a bit in Arabic.

The two Americans came back to the plastic table promptly, bringing with them the gift of Taco Bell tacos. Tyler was dubious about these tacos. They looked very unauthentic but Tyler was going to try them nonetheless.

Josh and Brendon put one in front of each of them and watched as they bit into the beef and cheese and lettuce of the tacos.

"Holy frick" Tyler moaned, then went bright red, though no one noticed. He hadn't meant to let the gasp of delight escape his lips but he couldn't help himself. He had never tasted something so delicious.

Ryan had a similar, though more muted, reaction to the new food. They scarfed the tacos down quickly and Josh went and bought 4 more tacos, much to Tyler and Ryan's protests.

After a bit, the four boys left the fast food restaurant and spilt up soon after, Josh disappearing on his skateboard down a quaint looking street, while Tyler, Ryan and Brendon kept walking. Ryan and Brendon dropped Tyler off at his doorstep and continued on to Brendon's house, only a couple of minutes away.

Tyler walked into his house and gave a small report to his parents about his morning. They wanted to know everything and we're delighted that he was making friends so quickly. Tyler had never been good in that regard, always the loner that he was.

He spent the afternoon bored, playing with his younger siblings, small games of hide and seek in the new house and such until he had had enough. He started exploring the house by himself and was excited to find an attic full of old knick knacks, including an old musical saw and an old, cheap plastic ukulele. He contented himself with playing that for a while, missing his piano from home all the while. The ukulele felt too up beat and happy for some of his emotions. But it was good enough for now.

After dinner, Ron dropped by, bringing with him an old laptop that he set up for them. Tyler's parents made him coffee as he was setting up the wifi connection. He had insisted that he was fine without coffee but Tyler's parents were adamant on repaying the people who were so kind to them, even if it was as simple as making them coffee.

Once all the technology was in place, Ron set them up with a Skype call back home, so that they could say hi to their friends. The first call they made brought them screen to screen with their next door former neighbours, who had moved to Turkey since they had last seen them. Tyler was especially excited to see Dallon, the son of his old neighbours. Dallon was the same age as Tyler and had been one of Tyler's best friends in Syria and he missed him immensely. They talked for a while and Tyler was happy for his friend that he and his family had at least made it to Turkey. There was a chance that Dallon would be coming to America but it was hard to tell. 

Eventually, the connection on Dallon's got pretty bad so they said goodbye. Tyler was sad they couldn't talk longer but was heartened by the possibility of Dallon coming to the US.

Tyler went to bed soon after that, worn out from the day and the constant repercussions of time change. He fell asleep dreading the school visit that he was to make the next day. It was going to be at the local high school which also had a very advanced refugee program. He was going to go for a visit quickly the next morning, meet his teachers, see the school, all that jazz. But he was nervous, even if he wouldn't admit that to his parents.

He fell asleep quickly, breathing in time to his brother's deep breaths from across the room, the snores of his father as his lullaby.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What was that ending? Who knows. Not me. Sorry.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am back from the grave! Sorry about such a long wait. I got really busy and unmotivated until a couple nights ago. Hope you enjoy!

Josh woke up to the truly awful sound of his alarm blaring right next to his ear, where he had stupidly left his phone the night before. He fumbled with it for a second before it shut off and he rolled out of bed. He made his way downstairs slowly, not wanting to talk to his family during breakfast, trying to preserve the silence he found himself in for a couple extra seconds.

He turned into the kitchen just in time to see a blurry-eyed Jordan pouring the milk for his cereal half in his bowl and half out. His mom turned from her spot near the fridge to see a pool of milk beside a very uncaring Jordan, who kept eating his cereal without cleaning up the mess he had created.

“For gosh sakes, Jordan! We’ve told you a million times to pay attention when you pour milk! Clean that up!”

Jordan spilling stuff was something of a daily occurrence in the Dun household, happening so often that their parents were threatening to make Jordan pay for all the stuff he spilled.

Josh poured himself some cereal while Jordan moved sleepily about the kitchen to get a rag. He ate his breakfast quickly and ran upstairs. He jumped in the shower quickly and felt a bit more renewed. He jumped out got into his school clothes quickly, not bothering to dry off much before pulling on his shirt.

He grabbed the lunch his mom had prepared him and ran outside. He sat down in the driver’s seat of his old sedan and stuffed the keys into the ignition slot but wasn’t too surprised when he tried to start the car and nothing happened. The old car he had bought off his cousin for next to nothing was in bad shape and Josh hadn’t gotten around to fixing it and he had no money for the repairs needed.

He called Brendon, hoping that the boy could pick him up on his way to school.

“Hey dude! What’s up?” Brendon cried excitedly into his phone.

“God, it’s way too early for that much exuberance. Could you come and pick me up, my car won’t start again.”

“Sure thing! Be there soon!” 

The line went dead and Josh sighed. “Be there soon” could mean 2 minutes or 2 hours when it came to Brendon.

After about ten minutes, Brendon pulled up to the curb in front of Josh’s house in his blue minivan. He tolerated constant abuse from his friends for driving a minivan, the absolute highest sign of suburbia. The van actually belonged to his parents but he was the only one who ever used it. His dad had gotten a Mustang a couple years back and his mom had been bedridden for a while now. She’d been sick for as long as Josh could remember but it had gotten much worse in the last couple of months. 

Josh ran out his door after yelling a quick “Goodbye!” to his parents and hightailed it over to the passenger door but was surprised to see Ryan sitting there instead. He frowned and stepped backwards and opened the back seat door. He slid into his seat beside none other than Tyler. Of course. He sent a questioning look to the driver’s seat where Brendon was perched.

“Oh. Oops. Guess I forgot to tell you that Tyler and Ryan were coming with us. They have the school visit thing soon.”

“Oh right.” Josh said, though he groaned inwardly. He felt awkward sitting beside someone he had a serious crush on, despite knowing them for only a couple days. And to top it all off, the boy he liked seem to dislike him.

They drove without talking, Brendon and Ryan humming along to a song by The Kinks that was playing over the radio. Tyler and Josh were stubbornly refusing to look at each other, nearing wanting to be the one to breach the silence between them. 

They pulled into the parking lot of the high school and walked towards the front doors. They were almost there when Josh was pounced upon from behind. He and his unknown assailant toppled over, where Josh found himself face to face with Halsey.

Halsey had been friends with Josh since they were tiny because their parents had been friends in college. When Halsey had renounced her extreme Christian upbringing, she and Josh had become even closer after his parents had forbidden him from seeing her. They had met up within an hour of his parents laying down the law and she now lived with her girlfriend, Melanie. The two seemed like an odd couple but they actually worked really well together.

“For God’s sake, Halsey! I told you to stop doing that. You’re going to kill me one of these days!” He tried to sound angry but a small laugh escaped his lips.

“I know!” Halsey giggled from her spot on the pavement beside Josh.

They both stumbled up and ran to catch up with Brendon, Ryan and Tyler who had all kept walking. Brendon had barely blinked an eye when Josh went down and so Tyler and ryan had kept in step with him.

“Hi! I’m Halsey. Josh told me you were guys might come to school but I didn’t expect you so soon! Nice to meet you!”

Halsey went to hug Tyler at the same time as he stuck his hand out for a handshake and they met in the middle for an awkward fistbump. He blushed a bit but seemed fine otherwise.

Ryan introduced himself and was a bit taken aback when Halsey immediately went in for the hug. He stiffened and then relaxed. He looked cautiously content. 

“This one is Tyler!” Brendon said, pointing to Tyler, who had forgotten to introduce himself in the embarrassment of the fistbump.

“Glad to meet you both!” Halsey said, matching Brendon’s exuberance. “Shall we go inside?”

“Josh walked beside Halsey and Tyler, while Brendon and Ryan walked a few steps behind them.

They entered the school and the group walked over to the bank of lockers that Josh, Brendon and Halsey all shared, along with a couple of their other friends. They unlocked their lockers and took out their stuff for their first class. Josh had Astronomy while Brendon and Halsey had Spanish.  
They walked with Tyler and Ryan to the principal’s office and left the two new boys sitting on the bench outside the office.

Josh walked away from Halsey and Brendon soon after leaving the two newcomers. His class was on the opposite side of the school as theirs. He put his headphones in and walked into the classroom. He sat down quickly at the back of the class beside Gerard, one of his newer friends. 

They had only really become friends a couple months ago, when Gerard had approached Josh. Josh had just dyed his hair and he was anxious people would judge him or make fun of him but Gerard (who had been dying his hair since middle school) had come over and enthusiastically complimented him. 

It had been Gerard who had convinced Josh to get gages as well, telling him it would “suit his aesthetic”. Josh was happy with the piercings but it had taken him a while to get used to them.

“Heyo!” Gerard said.

Josh grunted in response as he settled himself into his desk.

The lesson dragged on and on until finally the bell rang and Josh moved onto second period, French. He didn’t mind the class because languages came fairly easily to him but he didn’t have any really good friends in that class so it was pretty boring.

It passed surprisingly quickly and in no time at all, josh was out of class and walking toward the cafeteria where he was planning on meeting Brendon and Halsey. The two walked into the caf a bit after Josh arrived, followed closely by Ryan and Tyler.

“Hi!”

“Hey.”

“Tyler and Ryan are going to hang out with us for the rest of the day, k?” Brendon said.

“Cool.” Josh replied.

The five teenagers walked to the grocery store near their school and got a little picnic lunch of chips, strawberries, RedBull and sushi which they brought to the park across from school. They all sat down in a circle and Josh slumped down onto Halsey and put his head in her lap, where she promptly started playing with his hair. They sat in content silence or made small talk for a while before they had to return to school for the second half of the day.

Josh pulled Brendon aside once they got into the school.

“Are Tyler and ryan coming to our next two classes?”

“Ya dude! We have history and then vocals together so it works out. The principal asked us to. I was called to the office and I didn’t even do anything wrong. I did accidentally call him bald though so…”

“How did you accidentally call him bald?”

“Don’t worry about it.” Brendon said with a grin.

They quickly extracted their supplies for history from their lockers and went on their way to the fourth floor. The two newcomers got a couple weird looks and whispered comments but overall, it was not too bad.

They arrived in history and sat with their friends Pete and Mickey. The lesson was boring as hell but Pete livened it up with a constant stream of memes sent to the groupchat he started with some of their friends. Half of the memes were about Harambe in some way or another. Josh stifled a laugh as Pete and Gerard got into a long winded discussion about the relevance of Harambe in modern day culture. Gerard thought the issue would decide the fate of the upcoming election, while Pete argued that Harambe would be not only a modern day star but have a lasting effect on the world. It went on for much longer than it should have and Josh was occupied for almost all of the boring history class.

As the bell signaling the end of third period sounded, Josh, Brendon, Tyler and Ryan made their way to the vocal class on the first floor. They walked into class and Josh cringed as he saw the word “BALLADS” written on the board in big letters. He had forgotten they were starting a new unit and dreaded it. It wasn’t as bad as it could have been because Josh didn’t actually have to sing in front of people (his doctor had excused him from it because of his anxiety) but he still hated singing, even in a big group.

He would have done band but the teacher teaching that was a demon sent from Hell but he needed at least one music credit to graduate so he was stuck. He usually sat at the back of the class and mouthed the words. 

Brendon, on the other hand, was a good singer. Like, really, really good. He could go higher than any male singer Josh had ever heard and he had this weird vibrato that he somehow made work.

The teacher told them all to sit down and she started explaining the first ballad exercise they would do.

“It’s very simple,” she said, “just find any ballad you want and sing it. It’s only a practice so we won’t sing in front of the whole group yet, unless we have extra time at the end. Though you will have to sing in front of your partner.”

Ah fuck, thought Josh. he and Brendon started to join up into a group but Mrs. Willamson came over quickly and asked if could please find different groups. For “concentration reasons”, she said.

“How about you, Josh, go with the new boy,Tyler and youm Brendon, you can go with Ryan. It’s perfect!” She cried.

“Sure.” They both said.

Josh walked over to where Tyler was standing and explained what was going to happen. He suggested they go to one of the practice rooms before they were all taken. 

They walked together to the practice room (these little sound proof booths with pianos) and stepped in, Josh closing the heavy door behind them.

Josh noticed Tyler's face brighten when he saw the piano in the corner and asked quietly.

“Oh. Do you play?”

“Ya. A bit. You?”

“Nah just the drums and a tiny bit of trumpet. Wanna play something?”

“Don't you have to work on the ballad thing?”

“Nope.” Josh said, popping the P. “It's just practice time right now and anyway, my anxiety pretty much gives me a free pass in this class because I don't have to sing in front of anyone. As long as it looks like we're working, we’re good. Wanna play? You could sing too, if you want.”

“Umm… Sure, I guess.”

Tyler slotted himself onto the piano bench and turned around. “Wanna sit?”

Josh looked up from his phone and tried not to act surprised. Here was this boy who seemed to hate him, being so nice.

He walked the couple steps to the bench hesitantly and slid himself in place beside the other boy. He was working hard to keep a red tinge from rising on his cheeks from being so close to the brunette.

Josh could see Tyler visibly relax as he placed his fingers on the ivory keys. He pressed down on the first chord.

“This sounds better on the ukulele. Sorry.”

“No, no, go ahead, I'm sure it sounds great.” Josh replied.

“Wise men say, only fools rush in. But I can't help falling in love with you.”

Josh's jaw dropped. Tyler's voice was weird but it was amazing all the same. It had a slight growl that rose at the end of some words. It was nothing like Brendon's but it was superb. The other boy noticed the stare and a blush spread on his cheeks.

“What? Is it bad?”

“No, no, no. You're great. I mean, it-it-it’s great.”

Oh shit, that not what Josh had meant to say. Josh’s face lit up and he could feel his heart pounding so fast. God, that was embarrassing. Fuck he was awkward. And his stutter had resurfaced, now of all times. 

But Tyler didn't seem to notice all this, or at least he was kind enough to pretend he didn't.

He kept singing and josh tried hard not to stare. He could feel himself falling hard for this new boy, who seemed intent on killing Josh.

Tyler finished his song and then the two boys sat in slightly awkward silence for a couple minutes before Mrs. Williamson came to fetch all the groups in the practice rooms.

“C’mon boys, we’re going to have all the groups meet back in the main vocal room and we’ll talk about the field trip to the folk fest.”

The rest of the class passed quickly until Mrs. Williamson asked if any of the groups wanted to present what they had practiced earlier. A couple of partners volunteered until suddenly, Brendon stood up quickly and Ryan rose, much less confidently, beside him.

“Can we go, Mrs.?”

“Ya sure, go ahead, you two!”

Brendon stepped quickly over to the piano and sat facing away from his audience. Ryan sat down beside him, his nervousness apparent.

The two started singing a song Josh didn’t recognize but their voices were so beautiful together it was ok. As Brendon played the final chords of the song, he leaned over and gave Ryan a small kiss on the cheek, so quick that Josh would have thought he had imagined it if not for the steady blush appearing on both Ryan’s and Brendon’s faces.

Josh was a bit in shock. He accepted Brendon, obviously, he himself was gay so that wasn’t a problem. The problem was for Brendon. His dad was a pastor and a very anti gay one at that. Josh wasn’t sure that Brendon’s dad wouldn’t kick Brendon out if he found out. Josh was holding out some hope for Brendon’s mom. He wasn’t going to rule out a potential ally just yet.

As soon as the bell rung, Brendon raced over to where Josh was standing, still a little dumbstruck.

“What the fuck?” Josh said.

“Ah shit. Don’t hate me.”

“I don’t hate you. Just… what the fuck. Are you gay?”

“Ya. Well, bi but ya. Sorry for not telling you.”

“Your dad is gonna kill you.”

“Ya. I know. I haven’t told him yet and I don’t know if I ever will.”

Josh took a deep breath. 

“I’m-i’m gay.” He said hurriedly.

“Shit dude! Cool!”

Josh felt a weight lift off his chest.


End file.
